The five DC-15s silently slipped through the frigid night sky, each one loaded with 15 Marines itching for a fight. One of the soldiers sitting with his feet hanging over the edge of the side tapped the one next to him before pointing at the small silhouette of a ship fighting in orbit.

"Look," he said.

Eight beams shot from the side of the hull, sent streaking across the heavens. They slammed into an even smaller form and a proud fighting ship fell flaming towards the earth.

"Nightguard's fuckin'em up!"

A few small cheers before four loud booms shook the dropship and silenced the cheers.

Four large red beams shot from a distant city and made a beeline for the Republic dreadnaught before slamming into its shields, even with the large distance between them and the cannon, there were no illusions about the amount of devastation it could cause.

"Jesus Christ." The Marine breathed.

"That is the reason we are here gentlemen."

He turned quickly to see the Captain looking intently at where the shots had originated from.

"Those guns are making things very difficult for us to get heavy equipment on the ground, which is going to make it impossible for us to take this planet. Hawk, the map please." With that he raised his arm and a holographic image of the city projected out from a device attached to his wrist.

"The cannons are currently in the center of a small city just west of here." A large blinking red dot appeared in what appeared to be the town square. "Due to the massive amount of electro-magnetic interference in the atmosphere right now, courtesy of our proud Navy, the city can only communicate between the larger tasking bases through a communication bunker located to the city's southwest. Our team is small and light enough that we can set down relatively unnoticed. We are going to capture and hold the bunker long enough to allow the other teams to set down and unload. We are then to infiltrate the city and wait for the main assault to kickoff. Once it does, we will capture and hold the guns long enough for a Close Assault Force to close in and either force the city to surrender, or assist in its capture. Oorah?"

"Oohrah!" the Marines shouted in unison.

"Five minutes to touchdown boys." One of the pilots called back to the team as the other four dropships split away, heading to their own drop zones.

"Gear up team." The young captain ordered, sending the team into the well run motion of grabbing their backpacks and checking their weapons.

The captain took a few moments to catch his breath. Eyes casting to the "Give'em hell, Allen!" engraved on the receiver of his rifle. They had trained for this, drilled for countless hours for this exact operation, but the anticipation always got to him. Once his boots were firmly on the ground there would be no hesitation, but being up in the ship always got to him. So much was out of their control: if a patrol happened to see them slipping in, if a fighter squadron received different orders, if a farmer was out late at night.

"Beginning final approach." The pilot called again as the dropship descended, snapping him from his thoughts. No time for this now, his team needed a leader.

"You heard the lady, heads in the game!" Fake it till you make it.

The massive hulking dropship touched softly to the ground, the slight crunching of the frosted wildgrass audible over the purr of the stealth ship. The 15 soldiers piled out swiftly from each side, spreading out in two semi-circles on each side, watching the surrounding tree lines intently. After the last one exited the captain tapped on the cockpit, and the ship and its gunner rose quietly into the night, retreating to its standby position.

Allan gestured towards the closer tree line and the group fanned out with a well executed pragmatism, bathed in the cool glow of the twin moons perched in the heavens above. Soft crunching betrayed the movements of the soldiers as they crept into the woods, darkened by the shelter of the branches above, forcing the light into single rays lucky enough to make it through the interwoven leaves. Truly a sight to behold, had they had time to stop and admire it.

"Not a lot of snow." One of the soldiers whispered into his headset.

"Too close to the equator." Another responded softly "Most they get is light frost."

"It's so serene." Another said carefully stepping over a fallen tree "Something out of a fairy tale."

"All we need is a river and we can find Grandma's house." Said one more, sweeping behind him for signs of movement

"Half a click out from the outpost. Radio silence." The team leader cut them off

The team raised their weapons, prepared to engage anything that crept out of the darkness in front of them, before resuming their advance, tightening their circle, preparing for a fight.

The fight never came as they crept towards a road cut into the woods, just beyond the road was a small bunker, more in harmony with the world around it covered in vegetation, still managing to hold the trees at a distance. Shadowy figures guarded the entrance to the bunker and more patrolled around the perimeter.

The team was crouched low, hidden behind shadows and brush, each one selected a shadow, and locked it in their sights. A small twitch of the Captain's hand and the weapons whispered, cutting down the barely seen forces. The ground invasion had begun.